BP Post 2 – Gabriel Aguilar

For this post I have decided to answer the question “What symbols or imagery are used to convey the mood, atmosphere, or thematic elements of the text?”, I think this is one of the few questions that can relate to all three pieces of text, as they are all very different. Although, in all honesty I also think it is the most straight forward question to answer about all of these due to their very unique and interesting settings.

In “The Machine Stops” we are introduced to a largely clean world. It has been shaped by years of design thinking, and ease of access, and in this world the people are meant to be sterile. This heavily contrasts the other two pieces, but aligns with what is beyond the walls of the airship introduced by the main character’s son. It’s this dynamic that brings the tension between the settings and allows us to understand the stakes of the morality conflict between the two characters.

This underlying layer of dirtiness carries over into “There Will Come Soft Rains”, in which the author makes sure to note each and every time the world gets messier. Through the bathtub leaking, or the breakfast machine continuing to make, burn, and create more breakfast as the house falls into shambles, “There Will Come Soft Rains” is a story about the natural coming into contact with the unnatural, and the mess that ensues.

Far apart from either of these is “From Beyond”, in this story we are introduced to a world that is not visually appealing in the beginning, only to get glimpses of awe that are struck down rather hastily. This happens when the author describes the ancient temples that morph into pure void. That void in which the author describes has always been a great fear for me, and as such, reading this piece left me with little beauty to account for. I would say that the story is not dystopian as it takes place in a time, at least the way I perceived it, that is not in the future, and does not have the society connected all that much with the plot.